Hey, y’all! Guess what? I finished another TimeStamp entry! This time, it’s in response to jade_sabre_301’s request. She asked for something along the Her Hands vein, like when the others first noticed them holding hands.

I hope she likes where the muse took me! And I hope y’all enjoy it too.

( Beast Boy has a headache. )

....because you never know...



Save Ugly Betty!

So, about a week shy of the four month mark post-surgery, I am very proud to announce that I am now 44.5 pounds lighter than I was in October. On average, I've been losing 1-2 pounds a week, with it going up to 3 pounds some weeks (In the month of January, I've lost 11 pounds!). And this is without me being able to get doing any exercise.

I will say that the experience has gone a lot easier than I thought it would. My eating habits are changing, but I haven't found myself rejecting any kinds of foods like I heard some people do. I grant that I don't want to eat roasted chicken as much because it's so dry and since I can't drink any water while I eat, it doesn't go down well or it makes me really thirsty as I'm eating and it's uncomfortable to feel that while I'm eating and not be able to drink any water. Also, really spicy foods I stay away from on the whole for the same reason.

I've also found that I have to eat very slowly, small bites, and chew my food really well. Otherwise, as has happened a few times when I've forgotten, I feel like my food's still stuck in my esophagus (I think it is) and like I would throw up to get it out because it's uncomfortable as hell.

I get full with small portions, but I do get hungry every few hours. (which, is alright, since this is the point...eating small portions several times a day keeps my metabolism up)

I'm still not missing carbonated drinks, but I have had a weak moment and eaten a pack of m&m's the other day at the movies. (I also had a few chocolate chip cookies last night, but we'll keep that between us, shall we?)

On the whole, I think I'm doing well. My doctors are pleased.

I have bloodwork scheduled for Tuesday, where they're going to check my cholesterol, potassium, protein and vitamin levels just to make sure everything's on the level where it should be, but I'm thinking it's all going to be ok. I have no problems whatsoever eating protein. ^_^

The only food I really find myself with no desire whatsoever to eat is soup. I think I had a surplus of it during the first few weeks after the surgery and haven't quite gotten over it just yet.

Anyway...I just thought I'd update y'all, in case you were wondering.

Since I updated Instinct 2 and I hadn't realized how long it'd been since I updated that, I made myself a list of the fics that I have yet to update and when the last time I updated them was. I should tell you that I intend on updating all of these, so no worries that they might be dead. They're not. (Neither am I, although those folks in my office sure do TRY!)

Okay, so here's the list...in order starting with the one I haven't updated for the longest:

1. Burn (last updated 7-28-08)

2. Stupid Cupid (last updated 4-15-09)

3. It Only Takes A Moment (last updated 5-3-09)

4. This Kiss (last updated 6-17-09)

5. Echoes (last updated 6-28-09)

6. Stuff Like That There (last updated 9-8-09)

7. Just A Game (last updated 11-10-09)

8. Sweetest Thing (Last updated 12-3-09)

9. Instinct 2: Impulse (last updated 1-28-10)


What this means, of course, is that I have to kick Puck into action and force him to work on Burn. I can't believe it's been that long since I updated it! I'm ashamed. *hangs head in shame*

So, I don’t feel like working. That shouldn’t be a surprise. I’ve been working pretty much non-stop for the last week or so (it feels like more). I have some edits to do on a brief, but I’m just wiped.

So...I’m going to do that LATER. I might be up until 2 am again, when I don’t really have to be, but yeah...whatev.

And since I don’t want to do anything substantive, I offer:

Em’s Recommendations

aka, books and movies I’ve watched and liked.

These are movies and books I’ve watched and read over the last, oh...year or so, maybe and that I’ve liked enough to tell you about.

So, in other words, a complete waste of time. Both for me, and possibly for you.

Now...onward!

( Books )

( Movies )

As for what I'm reading right now:

Rhett Butler's People, Donald McCaig

This is a monster of a book. Seriously. the paperback is 687 pages. But...it's a lot more interesting than I thought it'd be. And I'm not even a HUGE fan of Gone with the Wind. I've seen it and like it, but I'm not a huge fan.

Rhett and Scarlet have to be one of the best literary couples, though. Right up there with Darcy and Elizabeth and Benedict and Beatrice. (Even though I haven't gotten to that part of the book yet.)

And to watch, I have the first season of "Battlestar Galactica" which my brother lent me, and the first season of "Chuck" which was my Christmas present from guardian_kysra to watch and I'm REALLY looking forward to when Disney's live-action, "Alice In Wonderland" and the remake of "Clash of the Titans" comes out.

I had ice on my windshield this morning. It was in the mid 30s when I left my house at near 8 am. But ICE?? I sat in my car staring at it for a moment, completely baffled as to what I should do.

I don't have an ice scraper in my car to take that shit off.

So, I had to go back into the house, grab a pitcher with warm water and pour it on the windshield to get rid of it.

And THEN, I realized there was still ice on my sunroof.

This is friggin' Florida, man! What the hell is up with the below 30s temperature for more than a week running?

That never happens here. NEVER.

My nifty little weather program on the iPhone tells me it's 50 degrees outside right now...

I don't mind the cold during the day...I really don't.

I just hate waking up when it's freezing and having to get dressed.

*le sigh*

Oh well.

p.s. My friend from Indianapolis called me on Sunday...to laugh at me. They've been having temps in the 0 degrees and she said, "It's been kind of warm today-we've only been at like 13 or 14 degrees."

Meanwhile, I'm running out of sweaters and jackets I can take to work.

What do the rest of you do for a full winter season of this? Do you really have that many jackets and sweaters to wear and not repeat and look as if you're a poor bastard that can't afford clothes enough to last the winter?

If I have to wear my green cable-knit one more time...

Okay...so I didn't do what I'd set out to do and write a Christmas Fluff-fest and I'd been doing for the past few years. This year, I just wasn't really feeling christmassy. Don't know why. BUT, before I got into the blahs, I did write something -- two somethings, actually. One, a cracktastic thing set in the Fableverse.

You guys know the "Fableverse" right? This is the 'verse that was spawned by my fic, Fable and has resulted in many wonderful fics and pictures by the talented guardian_kysra. Most notably, Potrait, Likeness, and Brush Strokes; and many wonderful art stuffs (also writing, but I don't think she's posted any of the writing) by the incredibly talented Absentia.

The art is too numerous to link to, but you'll find it if you follow Kysra's or Abbie's dA pages or if you go through the favorites on my dA page.

Anyway...I've only written a handful of things for this 'verse myself (and I don't know why), but as I was listening to Christmas songs a few weeks before Christmas, this one song came on and I had to write this short little cracktastic scene.

And now, a week after Christmas, I share it with you. I hope you enjoy.

If you don't know who some of the characters are, I'll explain in the AN at the bottom.

( Pageant )

And there is no one better to tell you about it than Dave Barry (even if this article is nine years old...it's still valid -- if a little dated).

Read. Laugh. Make fun of us Miamians.

(Go on, I konw you want to. You're bitter about having snow while we drive around with the tops down on our convertables or the sun roofs pulled back for the beautiful sunny crisp sixty-plus degree weather. I know you are.)

A/N: So, almost three years ago I posted the TimeStamp Challenge. I asked people to pick one of my finished, posted fics and request me to write something based on that story, either before or after what I posted in time. A few of you took me up on that and since then, I’ve been working on getting through those requests. I’ve done up three of them so far and this is the fourth.

This one is a result of eating_peaches’s request. She wanted me to write a year after Enough and she said it didn’t have to be about Valentine’s Day, so it isn’t.

Finally, I’m not too sure that this really follows from “Enough”, you know? I mean, I don’t mention the events of that one at all in this. I was much more focused on keeping the same feel of “Enough”. Peaches seemed to like it, and didn’t tell me that it didn’t meet her expectations for her request. So...here you go.

( “There’s a certain expectation to elevators, isn’t there?” Speedy asked, seemingly out of the blue. )

As of yesterday, I've lost 28 pounds in 7 weeks.

Just thought y'all would like an update.

p.s. I fail at NaNo. Got no further than 18,000 or so words. *le sigh* Oh well...maybe next year.

Now, it's back to work for me.

It's almost time for my Fluffy-Fluff-Fest-O'-Doom Christmas fic for Teen Titans.

I'm thinking of doing one for Ouran, just b/c I got hit by a random idea that might be fun for the Kyouya/Haruhi pairing.

And then I've always wanted to do an Ugly Betty Detty Christmas fic.

So...maybe I'll start working on those soon...

/random thoughts

I am so far behind it isn't even funny.

And I already want to scrap EVERYTHING that I've got and wouldn't mind starting over with a whole new idea. 'course, that wouldn't work...

I guess I'll just have to keep going, despite the pathetic word count...

It's my birthday at this point. (I was born at 12:15A)

I am now 31 years old.

...

...

Sheesh. I don't feel that old.

Shouldn't I, like, have the secret of the meaning of life or something by now?

Oh well.

*shakes noisemakers disinterestedly* Yay me.

So, yeah...I updated Just A Game and Chapter 3: Closeted is now up. It's not the best thing I've written and I don't think it quite has the same hotness factor of the other two, but oh well.

You read and the judge if you're so inclined. In any case, I decided to do up a soundtrack journal for that fic so far...


Just A Game

Chapter 2, “Flying High”

Temptation, Diana Krall

I am now officially an aunt. That's right, kiddies. My big bro is now a daddy.

I haven't met him (the new baby, I mean) yet, but little nephew was born at around 4 pm today, weighing in at a hefty 7 pounds 9 ounces and measuring about 51 inches (I could've gotten that wrong. Mom was tired and happy when she told me) and he has a mop of black hair.

Mom went and I stayed with my grandma at home, but she took pictures and a little bit of video through the glass partition into the hospital nursery. I melted. I'll admit it.

I go see him (and the proud daddy and momma) tomorrow.

*squee*

*I am really bad at rhyming...did I ever say that?

Yes...NaNoWriMo has started and I have taken off like a bullet!

...

...like a bullet stuck in the chamber, of course.

So, I thought I was going to be okay becuause three days shy of NaNo's beginning, I HAD AN IDEA! Yes! I had come up with a PLOT! (sortof) As close to having a plot as I ever get, anyway. And I knew what my characters wanted and what the initial conflict was going to be, so I thought...well! This is going to be CAKE.

Then...midnight, 11-01-09 came around.

And I got all of 159 words written before I stopped, realizing that I wasn't feeling it. So, I set that one aside and tried again. Same story, but a different approach, I thought.

I got 8 words. That's right. EIGHT.

So. I decided against that approach too.

Then, today at work, 1,169! "Woot!" I thought. This is it! This is the way to go!

And then I was driving home and thinking about what I'd written and I realized: nothing HAPPENS in what I wrote. WTH? I can't use THAT as a beginning!

But now, I am NOT dejected! No, siree! I read my welcome and pep emails! ("don't edit! don't self-edit! don't self-edit!") But I keep thinking that maybe this story idea isn't going to work out.

Now, I think I'm going to tweak it a little. Which means, I will have to edit those 1,169 pages to delete the reference to something in there and then write a prologue and I think I might be able to salvage this.

YES! I can do this!

Go, NANO!

Happy Halloween, everyone!






I hope y'all get lots of treats, and only the fun kind of tricks. ^_~.


p.s. Happy NaNo Month Eve to those of us crazy enough to take it on!

Readers of guardian_kysra and my collaborative fic, A Raven's Tale can now find the latest chapter up on Kysra's fanfic profile. Chapter 4: A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet

Yey!

^_^

Hi. I'm back. Well, sorta.

I've spent the last week repeating constant status updates, so if y'all will forgive me, I'll skip over the part where I detail every step of the process for the surgery I underwent on last Thursday.

Suffice it to say that I am fine and recovering as planned. I'm having to get used to new eating habits, but I think I'm doing well. Also, I'll be back to work on Monday, so I'm taking advantage of all the relax time as possible.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm doing good.

On the update front (the quickie version):

1. I haven't written a word (except to do a very quick edit to A Raven's Tale: Chapter 3).

2. I have yet to come up with a possible plot to write for NaNo.

Other than that -- nothing. So...um. Okay. Bye.

Hope everyone's doing well.